Bristle fabric and process of making the same



C. J. PETERSON.

BRISTLE FABRIC AND PROCESS 0F MAKING THE SAME.

APPLICATION FILED MAY s. 1915.

1,194,874. Patented Aug. 15,1916.

||l||llllllllllllllllllllS CHRISTEN J. PETERSON, 0F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

BRISTLE FABRIC AND PROCESS 0F MAKING THE SAME.

Specication of Letters Patent.

Appiiation mea may e, 1915. serial no. 26,370.

To all whom z't may concern:

Be it known that I, CinusTEN J. PETER- soN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bristle Fabric and lrocessesof Making the Same, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to a bristle fabric, such, for instance, as a door mat made of cocoa fiber, or other suitable material, together with a process of making such fabric.

The objects of the invention are to utilize a continuously acting process for the purpose of manufacturing a bristle fabric, thereby materially cheapening and expediting the manufacture of such a product; to produce a product which is more sanitary and just as strong and durable as the product now made for such purposes; and to employ the same material which binds the bristle together into a single mass to aix or adhere a backing to such mass.

' The invention further consists in the features of construction and combinations of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings; Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view of an apparatus for carrying out the process of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a section o n line 2-2 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrow; Fig. 3 is a side view of a somewhat modified form of feeding mechanism; and Fig. 4 is a crossN section of a piece of the completed product of the present invention.

In the art to which the resent invention relates, namely, the manu acture of bristle fabric, as, for instance, cocoa mats, these mats have been universally made, so far as I am aware, by a weaving process; that is, by using woovf` and warp threads which are beaten up by a loom,vfor the purpose of interweaving and locking in place a series of tufts of cocoa fibers. These tufts are laid close together and Woven tightly in place to form the bristle surface of the mat.

The foregoing process is somewhat expensive and requires a considerable amount of hand-work.

In the present invention by a novel process, this now-employed method of manufacture is dispensed with and a chea er and more eiicient method disclosed. I esire to state, at this point, that, although for the sake ofclearness and expedition, I shall conline the following description of the process and product to a cocoa mat, nevertheless it 1s to be understood that the process 1s capable of use for the'purpose of producing other things than mats, and that I claim for my invention anl original process of p-roducing a bristle fabric, together with the prod uct thereof, which bristle fabric, aceording to the material employed and its form and shape, may be adapted for the manufacture of brushes or other articles usually formed of a bristle material.

Referring first to the process of manufaeturing, I employ a trough-like receptacle 5 of suitable size and construction, into which 1s fed, by a reciprocating plunger 6 operated by any suitable means, a quantity of cui; bristle, and in the construction shown in Fig. 1, a series of cordor sti-ing 7 of suitable material is fed from a coil or reel 8 by feed rolls 9 in a downward direction. A movable cutting member 10 is shown as carried by the packing member 6, which movablelcutting member coperates with a fixed cutting member 11 to sever the bristles at rammed Aug. 15, 1916.

the-line of cutting action. These bristles,

when' severed, are forced forward by the reciprocating plunger 6 through a swinging lg'atemember 12, and thence into the cham- At the initial operation of the device,'I

place some suitable form of backing member, as, for instance, a block 13 in front of the bristle being forced into the chamber 5.

' 1`his is merely for the purpose of maintaining the bristle in an upright condition within this chamber until a start is made in -forming the complete product. The bristle is forced forward, and in such( forward travel, passes beneath` the open end 14 of a.

spout 15 leading from a tank 16 which is filled with some suitablekind of cementitiousy for a distance and into the mass` of bristle` lying within the trough 5, and spreading the substance about the upper part of such mass.

By opening up the bristle in the manner described, the cementitious compositlon will ow entirely around and'through the upper end of the mass, so that the upper part of each of the bristles ofthe mass will become coated with this cementitious composition. The composition is one which is in a pasty or adhesive condition when applied, but when it becomes hard, it is not affected by the action of moisture, etc. In fact, it becomes, as stated, a cementitious composition. v

Located beyond the tank 16 is a roll 17 from which is unwound a backing strip 18 Which may be in the nature of roofing felt or other suitable composition. This backing strip passes ofi from the roll 17 beneath .a pressure roller 19, and by the action of this latter roller is pressed into engagement with the upper end of the mass of bristle passing through the chamber 5.

As Will be seen from Fig. 1, the point of application of the backing member is close.

to the point of application of the cementitious composition, andI hence the backing strip is applied to the mass of bristle, While the cementitious composition previously applied thereto is in a plastic state and the backing strip will thus become fixedly and securely adhered to said mass. The application of this backing strip marks the completion of the product, and after it has been carried on and dried so that the cementitious composition is set, it can then be cut into any length and shape desired.

In order to assist in the carrying of the material through the machine, an endless member 20 is employed, driven by some suitable means, which member carries the completed product onward. This endless member is timed to Work in synchronism with the plunger 6, so that it feeds the work forward in correspondence to the placing of the new bristles within the trough 5, and the endless member is employed in order that the entire work of forcing the material through the machine against the pressure of the roller 19 ,will not fall upon the plunger 6. This endless member, therefore, is simply a supplemental feeding member.

When the product has been suitably'dried so that vthe cementitious composition is hardened, it will have the appearance of the section or piece, shown in Fig. 4, andas shown, will conm'st of a mass of `bristle 21 joined together at their inner ends by a cementitious composition 22, so that'their ends are really set in cement, and affixed by this same cementitious composition is the backing strip 23. This form of product will be found to be durable as to wear, and will also be found to be of a moresanitary nabristle fabric from ture than the old g style of mat, since the bristles are not drawny down together at theirinner ends, but are lying the same distance apart from their inner to their outer ends, and hence any dirt that may get into the mat can be easily shaken loose, since there will be no tightly drawn portion at the bottom of the mat which `would tend to retain the dirt when it has worked intothe crevices of such tightly drawn or compact position.

As stated in the preamble, although the description of .the invention for the sake of brevity has been directed .almost entirely, to the use of the present process for making a new form of bristle mat, the process may be obviously adopted for use in making other bristle fabrics which wouldy be employed in the manufacture of brushes, etc. ln Fig. 3 is shown a modified feed device which is intended to be used when hair bristles, are employed. This` consists of a magazine 21a from which depends a spout or series of spouts 22%` and feed rolls 23 are used for the purpose of forcing thehair through these spouts and into position to be severed by the 'cutting mechanism. Should some of the hairs which are fed into the receptacle 5 be too short to receive any of the adhesive substance, they can be eliminated from the mat structure by a Shaking of the same after ithas been formed. In other respectsfthe rocess of forming the hair is the same as described in connection with the manufacture of cocoa mat.

I claim: 1. The process of manufacturing bristle fabric which consists in first cutting the -bristles into uniform lengths, then treating one end of each bristle to an application of cementitious material, then applying a backing piece to the cementitious treated ends of the bristle while the oementis in plastic condition, and in maintaining the bristles in upright position with reference to the backing piece during the hardening of the cementltious material, substantially as deL- scribed.

2. The process of manufacturing bristle fabric whlch consists in feeding vbristles of 'uniform length into a receptacle, then embedding one end of each bristle in a cemenvcomposition to said end while the bristles are in flexed condition, then allowing the bristles to straighten, andthen applyinga backing strip to the cementitious treated ends, substantially7 as described.

5. The process of manufacturing bristle fabric which consists in placing theA bristle within a receptacle, then flexing one end of the bristle, then applying a cementitious composition to said end while the bristles are in flexed condition, then allowing the bristles to straighten, and then applylng a backing strip tothe cementitious treated ends, substantially as described.

6. The process of manufacturing bristle fabric which consists in feeding bristles into a receptacle, then iiexing one end of the bristles, then applying a cementitious composition to said end while the bristles are in iexed condition, ythen allowing the` bristles to straighten, and then applying a backing piece to` the cementitious treated ends, substantially as described. o

7 The process of manufacturing bristle fabric which consists in cutting the 'bristles to a desired length, then placing them Within a receptacle, then flexingfone end of the. brlstles, then applylng a cementitious com-l pound to said end while, the bristles are in iexed condition, and then applying a backing strip to the cementitious treated ends, substantially as described.

8. The process of manufacturing bristle fabric which consists in iiexing one end of the bristles, then applying a cementitious compound to said end while the bristles are in flexed condition, and then allowing the bristle to straighten, substantially as described. l

9. The process of manufacturing bristle fabric which consists first in cutting the bristles to a desired size, then flexing one 'end of the bristles, then applying a cementitious compound to said end while the bristles are in exed condition, and then allowing the -bristle to straighten, substantially as described.

10. As a new article of manufacture, a bristle fabric comprising a backing member, bristles Outstanding therefrom, and adhesive means for securing each bristle to the surface of the backing member, substantially as described.

11. .As a new article of manufacture, a bristle fabric comprising a backing member, bristles outstanding therefrom, andadhesive means within which a part Of each bristle yis embedded, whereby it is secured vto the surface of the backing member, substantially as described.

12. As a new article of manufacture, a

'bristle fabric comprising a bristle retaining member and a brushing member, the bristle retaining member consisting solely of a flexible adhesive mass and the brushing member consisting of a bristle mass outstanding from `the adhesive mass with a portion of each bristle embedded partlythrough the adhesive mass, substantially as described.

O. J. PETERSON.

Witnesses:

`WM. P. BOND, JOHN A. BODE. 

